Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Bringing Home Baby....

Yes, I know I am a posting fool today. Yesterday I cleaned like a mad woman - did all the laundry, mopped, dusted, scrubbed and went to the pool. Today I can relax and really I am just waiting for the pool to open so I can take the kids.

So, for those of you that have children you know what it is like to prepare for a new baby. For those of you that have more than one child know preparing for the second and any subsequent children can be quite different. With Jude I wanted everything shiny new and the best we could afford of everything. We had two nice showers and received a ton of stuff. I did get a few hand-me-down clothes but for the most part everything was new. Months before Jude's arrival I had everything washed in the special baby laundry detergent and organized neatly in the closet and drawers. With Elise it was slightly different. We had the basic items so we didn't have to buy them again. I had lost (a long story) our umbrella stroller so we did buy a new and much nicer one of those. My sister had Indy when I had Jude so she gave me all of Indy's old clothing. Elise was set in the wardrobe department. Yes, she did get a couple of new quilts and some new clothing but it was so different. Not that I care about second hand stuff....I don't care as long as it still looks good. But everything was was different with Elise.

Now we have #3 (we still don't have a name and apparently aren't ever going to agree on anything - can you believe Jake shot Lyric down today?) coming along. I feel so unprepared. I did get out the Indy/Elise hand-me-downs and washed them. I hung a few things up (in the basement) and the other stuff went back into a plastic bin since we haven't decided on a dresser yet. I did get the car seat out and took a look at it. It really is looking ratty. The fabric is faded and there is even a hole in the cover. So, the next time I went to Walmart I looked at the carseats. I thought maybe I would buy a new one. After looking at the prices I decided I would keep the one we had but I decided to make a new cover! I went home and immediately started disassembling the one on the old car seat. It was a chore. There are a lot of little parts sewn together. Next I went back to WalMart and purchased some inexpensive fabric. I spent $15 total and in the end it I have about half the fabric left over so I could have saved a few more bucks. It took me a while - like 5 hours - to sew the silly thing but I am happy with the results. The fabric pattern isn't my first choice but I wanted something fairly cheap and it had to match navy blue (the color of the base). I did look on line and people are selling these covers for $50-$100! Whew...that is almost as bad as buying a new one! I did see a pattern for a car seat cover that looked a little easier but it did not include the hood thingy...as you can see mine does!

So....here are the results! (Drum Roll Please......)

Well, this is what it used to look like when it was brand new. That is Jude.And this is the car seat with Elise in it....ya know to be fair.And here is the car seat now....No baby yet but you can see my cat, Molly (isn't that a good name for a baby??? Jake says no to that one too.)And here is another view....